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Laptop Campfire Speed

Marco Mahler's sophmore release, Laptop Campfire Speed, created a nice little buzz in the music blogosphere this past summer, and has been described as "a collaboration of Nick Drake, Fugazi and Kraftwerk on Unplugged".

Genre: Folk: Folk Pop

Release Date: 2010

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ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Album Notes

Marco Mahler's sophomore release, Laptop Campfire Speed, has created a genuine buzz in the music blogosphere of late. His music has been described as "a collaboration of Nick Drake, Fugazi and Kraftwerk on Unplugged" and as "often drop-dead gorgeous without the slightest bit of adornment". He was born in Chicago, grew up in Switzerland, and is now based in Brooklyn, New York.There is true beauty to be found on this album – Bert Jansch is a definite influence, and perhaps also Jose Gonzales, and even the Velvet Underground, but there is a modern edge and freshness with a positive and at times upbeat feel to the album . This is very hip “electro-pop-folk” dare we say, with the light touch on production resulting in a sound both decidedly post-millennial and oddly delicate. The songs are intense and literate without being self conscious or morbid. The real charm is its acoustic intimacy and the private intimate songs that feature calming and looping melodies. Its stark, but highly refreshing and dreamy. This is a marvelous album and one of those subtle records that gets under your skin in the best possible sense.

Marco Mahler makes dreamy minimalist folk-pop out of Portland. His sophomore release, Laptop Campfire Speed, is the sort of album you’d expect from someone who is brilliantly skilled yet mired by late night insomnia ... Laptop Campfire Speed an album that works just as well as a whole as it does in parts. One thing is for sure; Marco Mahler deserves widespread attention

Three years on from his marvelous Design In Quick Rotation, the overall tone of Marco Mahler's highly recommended new record is more playful and self assured than his debut. These are modern folk songs that delight in taking the listener into a looking glass world where nothing is quite what it seems.

Think of someone like Lou Reed if he was able to hang out with Jandek, Syd Barrett, David Byrne, and Jeff Tweedy, but they ended up being the same person looking at four different mirrors ... The songs on Laptop Campfire Speed are not only good, but are good enough to be covered and cherished by other artists who will hopefully spread the word of his craftsmanship.

There is beauty in simplicity and the music of Marco Mahler is simply beautiful. It takes guts to be gentle and kind, the music of Marco Mahler has guts, it's gentle and kind. In an era when mass produced, conveyor belt, corporate rock is killing music the world needs music that is natural, home produced and organic.

You wind up being carried into the same gentle rhythm, so easily sucked into a trance by these few sounds, not even distracted by the musician's Bill Callahan narration, which is hardly sung at all ... Laptop Campfire Speed is a welcome return for Mahler, whose debut was one of my favorites of 2007, whose records are ... on constant repeat, and whose next release will hopefully require something less than a three-year timetable.

Imagine sitting, as passenger, behind your beloved as they hurtle down the highway on their seemingly ancient motorbike. You have a worn hand held camera and you are making movies of all that slides past. This is the soundtrack to that surreal blur. Here the strange things, the dark even disturbing things, are camouflaged by the twinkled reflection of shiny minimalist pop, the hushed voice comforts, seduces, distracts, and the weird is natural now, the abstract makes sense. This music is as honest as architecture made for function and as a gift; it has that throb about it only found in CDs like this and airports at 3 am in the morning.

Rarely have such complex and contrarian melodies united with such deceptive simplicity. ... Focus on any one instrument, any one riff, and you may wonder if the man has all of his faculties, but step back and the effect is often breathtaking. Add his impressionistic lyrics, rarely delivered above a whisper, and Laptop Campfire Speed is one of those rare and wonderful releases capable of cutting through the noise by hardly making a sound. Very highly recommended.

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